It has become a debated symbol of the city, right in the heart of Berlin: I.M. Pei´s modern addition to the Royal Arsenal building, the “Königliche Zeughaus”, houses the “Deutsche Historische Museum/German Historical Museum”. This is an example of a Chinese-American architect building on “Prussian” history. This film is made up of fascinating and impressive images telling the story of a building that was once the royal arsenal, then the Prussian hall of honour, the East German Museum of national history and now the German Historical Museum. Two buildings represent two different epochs, two contrasting stories that are presented in a thrilling manner….
Diagonally opposite the Berlin City Palace on the “Unter den Linden” boulevard, a pompous baroque building was erected at great expense in 1695: the Armoury. It was used exclusively as the imperial weapons arsenal and was designed to make sure everybody noticed how big it was. In spite of all its ornamentation the building appeared too modern to many critics of the day, who claimed that it did not fit in to the cityscape. This film by Jeremy J.P. Fekete in the ARTE series “Building on the Past” illustrates the phenomenon by with the successful symbiosis of the armoury and the Pei building.
2008 | 27 min | HD | Motion Control Kamera | XD Cam HD | 16:9
BUCH & REGIE JEREMY JP FEKETE
PRODUKTION CINE PLUS | THE MEDIA GROUP
TV PREMIER: January 07 – 2006, on ARTE
NOMINEES & AWARDS
F E S T I V A L NOMINATION, MILANO DOC FESTIVAL, IT, 2006
Concorso Internazionale, Categoria: Architettura
E X H I B I T I O N / COMPETITION, Guggenheim Museum – Bilbao, SP, 2007
Concorso: Architekturfilm-Ausstellung
